Manquer - To Miss
The French verb manquer is a regular
-ER verb. It means to miss, but can cause confusion because it
is sometimes used in an
unusual construction.
Manquer + direct object means to miss something, in the sense of not being at/on/in it
| J'ai manqué l'autobus. | I missed the bus. |
| Il va manquer le film. | He's going to miss the movie. |
Manquer + de + direct object means to lack something
| Vous manquez de patience. | You lack patience. |
| Ce thé manque de lait. | This tea is lacking (needs) milk. |
Manquer + de + verb means to fail to do something
| J'ai manqué de faire mes devoirs. | I didn't do my homework. |
| Ne manque pas de m'écrire ! | Be sure to write to me! (Literally, Don't fail to write...) |
Manquer + à means
to miss a person, place, or thing,* as in feeling the lack
of it
| David manque à moi. | David me manque. | I miss David. |
| Tu manques à moi. | Tu me manques. | I miss you. |
*This is the confusing construction, because it means that in French, the person missed is the subject of the sentence, whereas in English, the person missed is the object. The French construction literally says A is missing to Z, where in English we says Z misses A. If you can remember to think about the literal meaning of the French construction, you should be all right.
| David me manque. ~ David manque à moi. |
I miss David. ~ David is missing to me. |
| Je lui manque. ~ Je manque à lui. |
He misses me. ~ I am missing to him. |
| Tu me manques. ~ Tu manques à moi. |
I miss you. ~ You are missing to me. |
| Tu nous manques. ~ Tu manques à nous. |
We miss you. ~ You are missing to us. |
See, manquer isn't so bad after all. :-)
| Test on Manquer |
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